Tea At Sea, Mountain Organic Indonesian Black Tea

Tea At Sea Description:
Organic grown in the Halimun Mountains of Indonesia at 800m above Sea-Level. Treated with natural spring water and fresh mountain air. These fully oxidized tea leaves have a smoky aroma, rich smooth taste of rolled up buds. Steep at 100°C and watch how the leaves slowly unfold to extract their natural flavour. Enjoy!

Steep 1.5 – 2 tsp for 5-8 min or until the leaves are fully unfolded.

Sample provided by Tea At Sea

My Review:
Tea At Sea is a new to me company out of Canada. Recently they offered to let Steepster people try their tea in exchange for reviews. So I jumped right on the opportunity.

I received two samples in resealable packets, that is a really nice touch. There is 7g of tea in each colorful pouch - enough to make two cups. A tag is attached to the packet with a description and recommended steeping temperature. The time is not listed on the tag but is listed at 5-8 minutes on their website.

Removing the leaf reveals a dark brown leaf with bronze colored thread like streaks. Dry it is slightly fruity with a wood or bark type note. I used my press and boiling water. I only steeped 2 1/2 minutes as I always do the first time with black teas calling for longer brewing times. The tannins in assam type tea can cause me severe burning discomfort if I don't proceed cautiously.

The result is a light orange/brown liquor that is bright and clear. I am wondering if I should not have steeped longer. There is a light roasted hint to the wet leaf scent along with the dry notes and a hint of cinnamon.

The sip is light to medium bodied - again this may be due to my cautious brewing. It is nicely malty. I found it to be silky smooth and very pleasant with a wonderful fruity aftertaste. It did not cause any burning sensation from the tannins. I also did not notice any dryness from astringency. This takes sweetener well and from other reviews will also handle milk if you are so inclined. I very much enjoyed this tea.

One little nicety that Tea At Sea includes with each order is a cork sailboat like the one shown below. I have to be honest and admit this is the first thing I grabbed when opening the package. It was assembled in a moment and is now proudly displayed above my tea table. No it is not in a bottle. I have neither the patience or attention span - look a squirrel. This is my first Indonesian tea and my first cork sailboat. Thanks Tea At Sea!

From their about Page:
Tea At Sea is a Loose Leaf Tea company with offices in Vancouver & Montreal. All of our teas are sourced directly from tea farmers around the world, we never work with wholesalers or agents. This way we maintain a very small selection of teas but can guarantee their quality and freshness.

Visit the Tea At Sea website.

Simple Loose Leaf, Cherry Green

Simple Loose Leaf Description:
Young Hyson green tea infused with rich black cherry flavor creates a deliciously fruity green tea. Delicious hot or iced.

Ingredients:
Young Hyson Chinese Green Tea, Dried Cherries, Safflower Petals, N/A Black Cherry Flavors

Sample provided by Simple Loose Leaf

My Review:
I received a 6 month membership from Simple Loose Leaf to review their teas. I have greatly enjoyed all of them so far and do recommend their tea and their monthly club. I also love the bags they use for the tea. The little vent on the back side helps remove the air so the tea stays fresher. It is a great idea.

I have never had a cherry tea before. I have loved peach teas for years. Recently I discovered that strawberry and tea go together really well despite my suspicions to the contrary. So maybe a fruity tea like cherry can be a good thing.

Opening the pouch, this is definitely cherry. The label says there are dried cherries in the mix but they must be chopped very fine as I don't see them. I don't know that they add anything to the flavor but I always enjoy the appearance of safflower petals.

Per the instructions I brewed this at 180 F for 2 1/2 minutes. The result is a green tinted, slightly cloudy cup. Simple Loose Leaf, on their website, recommends a few second rinse and dump before steeping to awaken the leaves. I did not do the rinse.

The taste is leaving me not sure what I think. I mean what is cherry tea supposed to taste like? Cherry pie? I wish. Maraschino cherries? Thankfully not as I don't like them. The label says black cherry. Yes, I get that but it is the black cherry taste I get in the summertime from a shaved ice drink. It is very sweet (not as sweet as shaved ice drinks but sweet). It is somewhere between candy and Kool-aid. Along with the cherry I can taste the hyson green tea. It is pleasant enough.

Given that I don't know what I should be expecting I cannot say if this is an accurate tasting cherry tea. I think it would be refreshing iced - or poured over shaved ice :) Maybe it is great and it is just not my thing. Based upon my previous experience with Simple Loose Leaf, I suspect this to be the situation.

Visit the Simple Loose Leaf website.

Verdant Tea, Imperial Breakfast Blend

Verdant Tea Description:
A fine breakfast tea should gently wake you up, acting as a transition and ritual to welcome the day.  Too many breakfast blends achieve this through caffeine alone, brewing up so intense that they are hard to palate.  We realized the best breakfast tea is going to give you more than caffeine.  Its flavor is going to be warm and sunny, the texture gentle but satisfying, the aftertaste refreshing.  The sensation of drinking the tea should make you want to start the day.

We achieve this by starting with Laoshan Black and Zhu Rong Yunnan Black.  This combination creates a satisfying body with a warm and bright flavor.  A touch of Wuyi Mountain Big Red Robe Oolong accents the warm fruity qualities, while Master Han’s 2002 Shu pu’er strengthens the base and a bit of Bai Mu Dan White tea provides a uniquely refreshing aftertaste.

This brews up beautifully hot or cold, and can be just the comforting cup in the morning or throughout the day.

My Review:
This is so interesting looking in the bag. Big white buds, golden twists, dark gnarly leaves. This is topped by the scent of the dry leaf upon opening. Oh my lands. This is dark honey coated burnt caramel goodness. It has been a long time since dry leaf has drawn me in so quickly. Just wow!

I used 2 tsp of leaf. It seemed like a lot but then look at the fluffy nature of the leaf. I let it soak for a moment in the bottom of my freshly rinsed press. Then I added boiling water and steeped for one brief minute.

The liquor is orange and clear. The wet leaf aroma is much like the dry with the added touch of seeming fresher and more alive. The scent of the cup reveals the caramel and a touch of the dark Wuyi. The Yunnan is the driving flavor here with the oolong filling in the bottom end. I really don't taste the puerh or white - or at least I can't single them out. As the cup cools I also catch light notes like cinnamon.

As is usually the case with me, the more the cup cooled the more I enjoyed it. Really hot, I thought (and usually do) the flavors were subdued and locked together. As it cools they separate and blossom. By the time this reached room temperature I decided it was an exceptional blend.

Visit the Verdant Tea website.

The Persimmon Tree, Bao Zhong

The Persimmon Tree Description:
Our Bao Zhong tea's hand-picked, long, twisted pouchong leaves are slightly oxidized and brew a fresh and floral cup with delicate notes of lilac and pear. This jade-colored tea soothes with every sip and offers a clean, refreshing finish.

Sample provided by The Persimmon Tree

My Review:
Bao Zhong is also known as Pouchong. I only recall having this type tea once before in Golden Moon's amazing Coconut Pouchong. This will be my first time tasting Bao Zhong without added flavoring.

The leaf is darker than expected for a slightly oxidized oolong. The dry scent is light and very fresh. I used about 2 1/2 tsp of leaf with 12 oz of water heated to 195 F. This steeped for 3 minutes. The result is a jade colored liquor that slowly turns more honey colored in the cup. The wet leaf has clean light floral oolong aroma.

The sip - Ohh, this is very nice. It is wonderfully sweet. The first notes are very floral, almost rose like, but lilac may fit better. This is not extreme floral like some tieguanyin teas can become. This is light, flowing, and just has a pretty taste. I also catch melon, which is unexpected but good. This feels thick like milk. I am not catching much that reminds me of green tea, neither is it a strong oolong, though it does lean more that direction. Bao Zhong is kind of its own thing and it does it well.

I love most types of unflavored tea from white to puerh and most points in between. Oolongs however, are kind of hit or miss with me. I am not sure why. I see no pattern in the ones I do like. This one is in the extreme like column.

You can find Bao Zhong here.

About The Persimmon Tree:
(From their website) The Persimmon Tree® offers our customers some of the world's finest organic teas and botanicals. Not only are most of our fresh high quality teas from around the globe hand-blended and organically grown, some of our teas are also fair trade, ensuring fair working conditions, fair wages, and a better life for tea workers from countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

At The Persimmon Tree®, our mission is simple: to enrich people's lives through the pleasure of tea.

Puerhshop, 2004 Old Youle Ripe Pu-erh Tea Brick

PuerhShop Description:
This brick was made of old arbor leaves from Youle mountain. Be prepared to be impressed by its mellow, smooth, sweet taste, and that beautiful wine color. The best tasting brick we got in 2010 - easily beat up what's the name: Dayi.

My Review:
A very generous sample of this was given to me by a friend. The leaf in the sample I got was loosely pressed. It came apart with little effort.

I used about 5g (a typical American tea bag holds 2g) and steeped it in my press with boiling water for 30 seconds. Unless there is something funky about the tea I never do a rinse and dump like a lot of people. Instead, I generally leave the leaf in the bottom of the press for a few moments before steeping, as the press is already warm and wet from rinsing. This in most cases is enough to awaken the leaves.

The wet leaf is very dark and musty/earthy in scent. Very much a ripe puerh aroma. The color of the liquor is light orange like sun tea. I at first thought I under steeped but later cups all came out this color. The last cup I prepared with a four minute steep, intentionally trying to turn this inky but it never happened. In my limited puerh experience, I found that interesting.

The tea tastes nothing like the scent. The Puerh Shop nails the description - mellow, smooth, sweet taste. Emphasis on the mellow. This is so easy to sip. For me the main flavor element is what I call horse tack. Sipping it reminds me of the smell of the leather in a horse barn. For me that is a very desirable flavor.

Visit the PuerhShop website.

Verdant Tea, Autumn Harvest Dragonwell Style Laoshan Green

Verdant Tea Description:
Steeped up, the beautiful fresh leaves dance in the cup, and release a rich, potent citrus sweetness. The texture is crisp like the mineral notes of Dragonwell, but moves quickly into grassy green bean flavor and mouth watering texture. This innovative tea from the He family is absolutely worth picking up to compare to traditional Shi Feng Dragonwell.

My Review:
I see this tea has been archived on Verdant's website. That means they have no plans to offer it again in the near future. I have it, so I am reviewing it anyway. I believe this to be from the autumn harvest of 2012.

This laoshan green has been flat pressed which alters the flavor profile from standard laoshan green. It really is one of the many amazing things about tea. How the master presses, rolls,or twists the leaf in processing really does affect the flavor in the cup.

I steeped this for 1 1/2 minutes in 175 F water in my clear glass press. The resulting liquor is sparkling clear and very light yellow/green tinted. It almost looks like white wine in the cup. The wet leaf has a spinach and potato aroma - hey, I just call them as I smell them.

The sip is crisp. It is also slightly bitter. It reminds me of dandelion greens but not nearly as bitter. Not meaning to mislead, this is exceptionally easy to sip. This really doesn't evoke images of dragonwell with me. It more closely reminds me of Tai Ping Hou Kui. Beyond this comparison, I think beans and nutty also fit the taste.

This was different. It disappeared quickly. I am not sure why this is no longer offered but I am glad I got to try it before it is gone forever.

Visit Verdant Tea online.

Andrews & Dunham, Red Tailed Hawk

Andrews & Dunham Description:
The shrill cry you hear when you see a bird of prey onscreen is almost always that of a Red-Tailed Hawk. It is this cry that, when heard while alone and in the wilderness, reminds you that you are indeed alone and in the wilderness. So brew up this blend of bright, delicious teas from the mountains of India and soar to new heights of flavor.

The Red-Tailed Hawk is a blend of bright, delicious teas from the mountains of India. We like to brew it for a little less than 3 minutes in boiling water for a smooth, fragrant cup. Brew it a little longer for more briskness.

My Review:
I don't exactly understand the connection between the American red-Tailed hawk, being alone in the wilderness and this tea, but I'm willing to go with it just the same.

The loose leaf is small pieces of chopped leaf of various shades of brown. I steeped this for 3 1/2 minutes in my press with just off boiling water. The brew is orange-red tea colored. The wet leaf smells incredible. It reminds me of tea from Nepal.

I was assuming since this tea is a blend from India that it would be a bitter assam type cup. That doesn't appear to be the case. This is very smooth. It is malty to be sure but no hints of cocoa as found in a lot of Chinese black teas. It is not fruity like the Nepal teas I have experienced. I find myself thinking it covers the middle ground between Assam and Nepal. The aftertaste is strong and brisk with some dryness. That could probably be reduced by lowering the steeping time.

I use to think I did not like jasmine tea until I discovered I really just did not like cheap bagged or poorly done jasmine. A good jasmine is amazing. In the same way, I thought I did not like tea from India unless it was flavored with something else. This tea proves once again I have just not had the good stuff.

My guess is I personally could not drink this on am empty stomach or very much of it at a time because it might lead to stomach burn. That did not happen with this cup but I still have to watch it. That warning aside, this is one of the very best tea blends from India I have tried.

Visit Andrew & Dunham online.